Battle of two First Ladies: Turai reclaims disputed land from Dame Patience

An Abuja High Court on Thursday revoked the notice of revocation issued by the FCT Administration on a plot of land allocated to Hajia Turai Yar’ Adua.

Presiding Justice Peter Affen held that ``the revocation issued by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Sen. Bala Mohammed, was invalid, null and void’’.
Affen said that the plaintiff’s right of occupancy over the 1.84 hectares of land remained valid and subsisting.
According to Affen, ``there is no regular and proper overriding public interest to warrant the purported revocation’’.
The judge said that it was the dispute between the plaintiff and Mrs Patience Jonathan, wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, that led to the purported revocation.
``The plot belongs to WAYEF, a site for the building of the head office of the plaintiff’s pet project and so the dispute does not amount to overriding public interest,’’ the judge said.
Affen said that the claim by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) that the plot had earlier been allocated for the building of the African First Lady Peace Mission was wrong.
``There is no evidence in all of the materials before me that the land had been initially granted.
``The Minister did not rely on the alleged error while revoking the land but rather relied on evidence of overriding public interest.
``The disputed land, plot no. 1347 Cadastral Zone AOO, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT, was initially allocated to Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) while Mrs Yar’adua was First Lady.
``The Minister of the FCT, Bala Mohammed revoked the allocation for what he described as `overriding public interest'.
``He then re-allocated the same land to Mrs Jonathan for the building of African First Lady Peace Mission Headquarters on the 2nd of November, 2011.
``The action of the FCT administration is not tenable in law as it was done contrary to the rules and law, and therefore will not stand.’’
Turai, the wife of Late President Umar Yar’Adua, approached the court seeking the revocation of the plot allegedly taken by Dame Patience.
The plaintiff said that the land allocated to WAYEF on Feb 19, 2010, was being trespassed upon by the President’s wife.
Those joined as co-defendants in the suit are the Minister of FCT, Federal Capital Administration, the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) and the AGF. (NAN)